Beer-storing apparatus.



No. 698,869. A Pat ented Apr. 29, I902.

- 6.. SPINDLER;

BEER STORING APPARATUS.

(Application filed Sept. 6, 1901.\

' 2 Sheets-Sheet I.

(No'ModeL) WITNESSES "m5 uuams was 50.. mom-drum. W!HINOTDN, o. c.

Patented Apr. 29, I902. C. SPINDLER. BEER STORING APPARATUS.

(Application filed Sept. 6, 1901.

2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

(No Model.)

GQMau WITNESSES BEER-STORING APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Ratent No. 698,869, dated April29, 1902. Application filed September 6, 1901. Serial No. 74,495. (Nomodeh) To all whom it may conocrm.

Be it known that LCH'ARLES Srmnnnaa citizen of the United States,residing at Jersey City, in the county of Hudson and State of NewJersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inBeer-Storing Apparatus, of which the followingis a full and completespecification, such as will enable those skilled in the art to which itappertains to make and use the same.

The object of this invention is to provide means to prevent thefraudulent refilling of beer-vats in breweries after they have beensealed by the Government officials and after the contents has beenwithdrawn or partially withdrawn.

It is customary in breweries where a large quantity of beer is bottledor sold in bulk to erect or provide a refrigerated chamber in which areplaced large vats, which are filled with beer in the presence of arevenue officer and sealed by him for the purpose of preventingrefilling or partially refilling except in his presence. These vats orvessels are generally provided with a scalable inlet and an outlet pipeand also with an air or gas inlet at the top thereof, through which airor gas under pressure is passed,-and said vats are usually also providedwith a manhole and a wator-gage, thelatter being designedto indicate thecontents or the amount thereof. In such cases the inlet through whichthe beer is introduced into the vat is sealed by a Governmentrepresentative; but the outlet-faucet is not sealed, and the brewer orbottler may withdraw at will from said faucet in the operation ofbottling or dispensing the contents of the vat, air or gas being forcedinto the vat through the air-inlet during this process or at any time,so as to force the beer to the bottle-filling machine or for otherdistributing purposes, and sealing the outlet as well as the inlet ofthe vat would require the presence of a revenue officer while rackingoff or bottling the contents of the vat.

In order to provide against fraud and to insure the Government the fulltax or revenue and at the same time to secure to the brewer the fullbenefit of his investment,I provide a 'been once filled and sealed itcannot be refilled or partially filled except in the presence of arevenue officer.

The invention is fully disclosed in the following specification, ofwhich the accompanying drawings form a part, in which the separate partsof my improvement are designated by the same reference characters in.

each of the views, and in which- Figure 1 is a side view of a beer-vatprovided with my improvement and showing part of a refrigerated chamberin which a vat is placed and also a bottling-machine in connection withsaid vat; Fig. 2, a plan view of the outlet-faucet provided with myimproved seal and check-valve and showing a part of the vat in section,and Fig. 3 a sectional side view of-the device as shown in Fig. 2.

In the drawings forming part of this specification, reference being madeto Fig. 1, I have. shown at 5 a part of a refrigeratingchamber such asis usually employed in beerbottling breweries, and in this chamber isplaced a tank 6, which is provided at one side with an ordinary gage 7in order to determine the amount of beer within the vat, and said vat isalso provided with the usual manhole 8 and at or near the top thereofwith an inlet pipe or faucet 9, in which is placed a valve 10, providedwith a sealing device 11. The vat 6 is also provided, in the topthereof, with an air-inlet 12, with which is connected an air-supplypipe 13 and which also communicates with the bottling-machine 14. Thepipe 13 is provided between the tank-inlet 12 and the bottling-machine14 with a valve 15 and on the opposite side of said inlet 12 withanother valve 16, and connected with the bottom of the vat is anoutletpipe 17, with which is connected at 18 a pipe 19, which is alsoconnected with the bottlingmaohine 14. A valve 20 is placed in theend ofthe pipe 17, and this device may consist of an ordinary faucet and be ofany desired construction, and between the valve 20 and v the tank 6 isplaced my improved or additional seal and valve 21, which is shown indetail in Figs. 2 and 3. The pipe 17 is provided between thefaucet-valve 20 and the tank with an enlarged valve-chamber 22, in

which is formed a diagonal valve-seat 23, provided with a valve 24,which is pivotally connected at 25 with the valve-casing by means of anarm 26, which is connected with the central portion of the valve at 27,and the top of the valve-chamber 22 is provided with a removable cover27, having an annular flange or rim 28, which rests upon a correspondingannular flange or rim 29 at the top of the valve-chamber, and in theseflanges or rims 28 and 29 are formed holes or openings 30, by means ofwhich any suitable sealing device 31 may be secured thereto, so as toprevent the removal of the cap 27.

In practice the vat 6 is filled in the presence of a revenue officer andthe inlet-pipe and cap 27 are sealed by him, and if at any time. it isdesired to rack off or bottle the contents of the vat this may be donein the usual manner by merely turning the valve 20 and allowing thecontents of the vat to be discharged. It will be apparent that no beercan be introduced through the pipe 17 into the vat by reason of thevalve 24, which securely closes this pipe against such operation; butthe valve 2% will open outwardly, so as to allow the beer to pass fromthe vat. If at any time it is necessary to refill or partially refillthe vat, the revenue officer must be summoned, as the seals can only bebroken by him. The bottling-machine 14 may be of any desiredconstruction and is only partially shown, the illustration in Fig. 1being simply .intended to show any sort of a bottling-machine, themachine indicated, however, being that described and claimed by me in anapplication for Letters Patent of the United States filed March 20,1901, Serial No. 51,996.

My invention is not limited to any definite form of seal for use betweenthe faucet-valve 20 and the vat nor to any particular form ofcheck-valve, the only object in this connection being to provide anysuitable seal and any suitable valve for this purpose.

Although I have described the vat 6 as a beer-vat and my invention isapplicable to vats of this class, it will be apparent that the same maybe applied to ale-vats or any other vats from which beer, ale, or otherliquids are taken for bottling or other purposes after the same havebeen sealed, as hereinbefore described.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new, anddesire to secure by Letters Patent, is- 1 1. A beer or other vatprovided with a sealable inlet and a discharge-pipe provided with adischarge faucet or valve and a seal and check-valve located between thedischarge faucet and valve and the vat, substantially as shown anddescribed.

2. A beer or other vat provided with an airinlet in the top thereof, asealable inlet for beer or other liquids, a discharge-pipe at the bottomthereof provided with a valve, and a seal and check-valve placed betweensaid discharge-pipe valve and the vat, substantially as shown anddescribed.

3. A beer or other vat provided with an airinlet in the top thereof, ascalable inlet for beer or other liquids, a discharge-pipe at the bottomthereof provided with a valve, and a seal and check-valve placed betweensaid discharge-pipe valve and the vat, said air-inlet and saiddischarge-pipe being also provided with pipes which are in connectionwith a bottling-machine, substantially as shown and described.

4:. A discharge-pipe for beer and other vats,- providedwithadischargewalvaandasealand check-valve placed between thedischargevalve and the end of the pipe which communicates with thevat,substantially as shown and described.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention I have signed myname, in presence of the subscribing witnesses, this 27th day of August,1901.

CHARLES SPIN DLER.

.Vitnesses:

M. BONNET, E. J ACKSON.

